WRESTLING COLUMNS

Carrying SmackDown! On His ShouldersOctober 5, 2006 by Manuel D.

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As most of us know already, SmackDown isn't exactly the best wrestling show these days. The roster is totally short and wasted, the good athletes are either injured, traded to another brand, or released. But lately, there has been one man to come from behind and put SmackDown onto his shoulders and carry it. I'm talking about King Booker.

Since the release of Christian, SmackDown has been through so much. From the late great Eddie Guerrero's death, to the suspension of Randy Orton. And it didn't help with the fact that there was no main event heel. At WrestleMania, the SmackDown main event features Rey Mysterio beating World Heavyweight Champion, Kurt Angle and Randy Orton to win the title. After this, Rey Mysterio went on to have a fued with United States Champion, JBL, which culminated on an edition of SmackDown, with Rey Mysterio making JBL retire.

But as this was happening, the former Booker T., was climbing his way to the top. At WrestleMania 22, Booker T. and his wife Sharmell lost to the Boogeyman. But believe it or not, this boosted Booker T., upwards, because after this, WWE brought back it's defunct King of the Ring tournament. In the Quarterfinal match, Booker T. went on to defeat Matt Hardy. In the semi-final match, Booker T. was suppose to take on former King of the Ring champion, Kurt Angle, but after an attack from Mark Henry, Kurt Angle was injured. This gave Booker T. a bye to the Finals.

As Booker T. was preparing to go to the finals, he told everyone if he wins the tournament, he would redub himself "King Booker". And at Judgement Day 2006, in one of the most unpredictable King of the Ring matches, Booker T.
defeated, with the help of Finlay, Bobby Lashley. After this victory, on the next edition of SmackDown, Booker T., who was welcomed to the ring by William Regal, was coronated to become King Booker.

After this, the renamed, King Booker went on to fued with the rookie powerhouse, now United States champion, Bobby Lashley. It started on the June 2nd edition of SmackDown when Lashley beat King Booker in a non-King of the Ring title rematch from Judgement Day, but after the match, King Booker had his new henchmen of Finlay and William Regal made Bobby Lashley kiss King Booker's feet.

The feud continued throughout June, with several matches, which King Booker losing all of them. It finally culminated in a cage match on the June 30th episode, this time for the United States title, which Bobby Lashley won yet again. The next edition of SmackDown, King Booker's losing ways would end, as he would enter 14 man Battle Royal, in which the winner get's a World Heavyweight title shot at the Great American Bash 2006. King Booker would end up winning, after eliminating Matt Hardy and his henchman William Regal.

Then after a few weeks of build up for the main event at the Great American Bash, King Booker went on to defeat World Champion, Rey Mysterio, to win the World title, with help from the heel turning Chavo Guerrero. Then on the next edition of SmackDown, during King Booker's World Heavyweight title coronation, he gave himself the nickname "King of the World", to which Rey Mysterio came out to attack him.

So later in the night, King Booker gave Rey Mysterio his rematch. King Booker won this match, thank to help from yet again, Chavo Guerrero.
Throughout the next couple of weeks, King Booker was left without a number one contender. Then on the August 11th edition of SmackDown, after he and his team-mate Bobby Lashley beat King Booker's henchmen, Finlay and William Regal, Batista announced he was number one contender to King Booker's title.

So at SummerSlam, Batista defeated King Booker, by DQ. And with the DQ finish, King Booker retained the World Heavyweight championship. So in the next few weeks, King Booker faced Batista yet again for the World Heavyweight title, this time winning with the help of Finlay.

And now, at No Mercy, King Booker has re-sparked his feud, and will face Bobby Lashley defending his World Heavyweight title. And is also entering a mini-feud with RAW's WWE Champion, John Cena. And by doing so, not only is he taking on the biggest heel role on SmackDown, he is also carrying SmackDown on his shoulders. And me, I'm glad to see King Booker where he is today.

Brent Matthew Denny wrote:
Before i get started i just want to say this Booker T is a good wrestler he's a former 5 time!
WCW Champion as well as holding loads of other titles. An this current gimmick is really working for
him and i'm sure he's having a great time working with his real life wife Sharmell as well as
great wrestlers like Finlay and Regal Batista and Lashley.

However i do not belive nor do i personally think that SmackDown! is being carried by one man and
even if it was i certainly don't think Booker T/King Booker or whatever you want to call him is or
could be the man to do it if SmackDown needed carying.

Now the majority of what Manuel D said is true SmackDown has suffered quite a bit recently however
they do still have some great wrestlers who could become major key players on the show a couple
of which already are getting their pushes by being involved in a storyline with Booker T and they
are Batista Regal Lashley and Finlay.

However there are others Matt Hardy Mr Kennedy Sylvester Terkay Sylvan Vito etc.I do not think that
SmackDown! is below RAW or less of a show than RAW in point of fact i would go so far as to say RAW
are neck and neck as far as putting on a good show is conserned. I might even go so far as to say
SmackDown! is better than RAW simply because they do not ram the same feuds down our throats for god
knows how many weeks unlike RAW who are still pushing the Edge and Cena DX vs McMahons feud.

SmackDown has some good storylines going on at the momment and they are pushing their superstars
into positions where they can be main event level players and right now if anything or anybody is
keeping SmackDown! alive it's not one person it the current storyline which Booker T is involved
in however it isn't just because of him that SmackDown! is "surviving" or the storyline is working
it's because of Finlay Regal Batista and Lashley as well in other words it is a group effort.

An if anybody could carry SmackDown! only two men that i know of who are currently apart of Smackdown!
could do it one of them is Batista and the other is The Undertaker.

An that's my opinion.
Jesse Lee wrote:
Booker T as champion" Sounds great to me. My one wish, he gets rid of the accent. Other than that, Booker T's reign is pretty good. That's how I feel. Definitely a lot better push than a constantly losing champion. (I'm still trying to figure out the product value potential on that method.)
ADIL KHAN wrote:
I gotta admit. King Booker is really carrying smackdown on his shoulders. Since coming to the WWE Booker was stuck in the mid-card except for a shot at the world title against HHH and the invasion storyline. As King Booker he got a gimmick that fitted him in the main event and now he has the Big Gold Belt around his waist. But apart from Booker there are certain other superstars on smackdown who also deserve that world championship. William Regal has been with Booker T since their WCW days and he if involved in a proper storyline can accomplish what he hasn't yet. He is quite good on the mic too. Finlay has a history of wrestling in himself. He has won a lot of titles back in Great Britan. After all he is a Tough Irishman and loves to fight. No doubt about his wrestling skills and also good on the mic. JBL established himself as a great heel and i loved him as the WWE champion, too bad he can't wrestle now because of injuries. If he was active he could have entertaining as the World Heavyweight champion. Batista has been the champ before and can prove good again as the champ. Mark henry was moving up towards the main event but unfortunately got hurt. I hope he returns next year and starts where he left. He can be Great for smackdown as a heel champion. If we talk about face main eventers then there are not many. Rey Mysterio, Batista have been champions before. Oh! what about the Phenom, The UnderTaker. Its been long since he last became champion. I think the reason that he is not getting title shots is because he makes rare appearances. Lashely has great skills but his problem is his ability to speak on the mic, sorry to say but its terrible. But i believe he is a future world champion, and then we have Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Kenneeeeeeeedddddddyyyyyyyy....... Kennedy!!!. He has a great future ahead of him. He is great to watch whether in the ring or on the mic and he will be the main event at WrestleMania in the near future. So at the moment SD! has great talent and if a few names are drafted from the other two brands it would be the best show of them all.
Ernesto Vale wrote:
King Booker is the best character that the WWE has developed since Brock Lesnar. He is extremely amusing and gets great heat from the crowd. I am happy Booker is finally getting his chance to shine in the WWE even though it is on Smackdown. He is also getting a chance to get wrestlers like Finaly, who was nothing in WCW, over. He has been great for Lashley's career. If Lashley does obtain the top spot in the company one day, a large part of that must be attributed to help from King Booker. ALL HAIL KING BOOKER!
Clay Kareem wrote:
I completely agree with your article. It's about time someone gave King Booker his props. Not only is he one of the best performers around, but in my opinion he is the most entertaining heel in WWE. As over the top and stupid his current gimmick is, Booker seems like he is having fun with it. It's funny to watch him go between that horrible English accent ("Who is this rogue!"") and his old Booker T self (Aww hell no, Teddy!) when he gets angry. Sharmelle has way more charisma than Lita (who is being wasted) and is the perfect "Queen" to his King. Booker makes every wrestler that gets into the ring with him look good, which has to be hard to do. Hopefully he gets a good run, and they don't give the title back to Batista for awhile.

RAW is tired. Who cares about the McMahon/DX feud anymore" Smackdown! has better than average matches where the wrestlers at least get to show some of their talent without McMahon/Coach/Edge trying to hog all the airtime. Boring, boring, and boring. RAW may be the flagship, but Smackdown! is good ol' fashin' rasslin'.
Winslow wrote:
From a personal viewpoint; Batista should not receive the World Heavyweight Championship for a very long time. Booker has earned his spot at the top. I will even go so far as to say that Fit Finlay would make a better champion than Batista. In fact, I am all in favour of that 100%.
Batista has apparently been complaining that he doesn't like SD! yet he keeps getting a main event push...what the hell is wrong with the man"!
Also, his bulk has reduced fairly significantly since his return. I wonder why *cough* wellness *cough*.
Overall my opinion is that Booker - remain champ, Batista - get bent and stop complaining, Finlay - keep up the sexay work, Regal - way to take on Vito!, London & Kendrick - Best tag team around!
Thank you for the time in reading my short but sweet response and I hope there are more people in the world who agree with me about Batista and Finlay.
ALL HAIL.........FIT FINLAY!!!
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